A CONNECTICUT YANKEE
IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT
by
MARK TWAIN
(Samuel L. Clemens)
Part 1.
CONTENTS:
| CHAPTER I. | CAMELOT |
| CHAPTER II. | KING ARTHUR'S COURT |
| CHAPTER III. | KNIGHTS OF THE TABLE ROUND |
| CHAPTER IV. | SIR DINADAN THE HUMORIST |
| CHAPTER V. | AN INSPIRATION |
| CHAPTER VI. | THE ECLIPSE |
PREFACE
The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale arehistorical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate themare also historical. It is not pretended that these laws andcustoms existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is onlypretended that inasmuch as they existed in the English and othercivilizations of far later times, it is safe to consider that it isno libel upon the sixth century to suppose them to have been inpractice in that day also. One is quite justified in inferringthat whatever one of these laws or customs was lacking in thatremote time, its place was competently filled by a worse one.
The question as to whether there is such a thing as divine rightof kings is not settled in this book. It was found too difficult.That the executive head of a nation should be a person of loftycharacter and extraordinary ability, was manifest and indisputable;that none but the Deity could select that head unerringly, wasalso manifest and indisputable; that the Deity ought to make thatselection, then, was likewise manifest and indisputable; consequently,that He does make it, as claimed, was an unavoidable deduction.I mean, until the author of this book encountered the Pompadour,and Lady Castlemaine, and some other executive heads of that kind;these were found so difficult to work into the scheme, that itwas judged better to take the other tack in this book (whichmust be issued this fall), and then go into training and settlethe question in another book. It is, of course, a thing whichought to be settled, and I am not going to have anything particularto do next winter anyway.
MARK TWAIN
HARTFORD, July 21, 1889
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